Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations

Year 2017 for Sri Lanka ; Reading outside Astrology

by Kusal Perera-Jan 1, 2017

( January 1, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Year 2017 dawns with all arrangements including a week for “reconciliation” put in place to celebrate two years of Maithripala Sirisena presidency and Wickramasinghe government, beginning from 09 January 2015. More precisely, it would be 02 years celebrated for ousting the Rajapaksas. UNP on its own was conceded as no strong contender to floor Rajapaksa. Wickramasinghe thus agreed on Sirisena as the Common Candidate to defeat Rajapaksa. Ousting Rajapaksa is all what the Colombo “civil society” owners too wanted. They still cry proud not about them winning but about them defeating Rajapaksa. Everything else is unimportant for them even now.

Two Years Spent

From there, drawing up a brief profile of this government’s 02 year performance begins with leaders of this government exposed as totally incapable of reading the global economy, “post 2008”. They expected the West to fund their projects as soon as they came to power. No funds coming from West, they ended up at the doorsteps of China. They are also far more untidy and corrupt than the Rajapaksas. Already they have 47 cabinet ministers plus another 45 Sate and Deputy ministers on tax payer funds. In just 18 months they have at least 07 mega corruptions including 02 bond scams as against 03 such mega deals during the first 36 months of Rajapaksa.

The government failed miserably in annual budgeting, 02 years for now. The 2016 budget was cut, chopped, axed and sawed from day one. So is this 2017 budget. It ran into public protests immediately. Different and contradictory interpretations were given to proposals by the Finance Minister himself. President promised protesting bus owners he would amend budget proposals, least concerned about revenue and expensiture.

Having failed in smuggling a VAT without informing parliament, the government blundered again in getting a proper bill in parliament to levy the VAT. On finance and monetary policies and management, this government is pretty amateurish. Within an year PM made 02 statements on economic policy and strategy. Yet budgets don’t reflect any policy nor does what President proposes and implements under him.

The most shameless betrayal by this government is on reconciliation and in letting down Tamils and Muslims. The North and the East have not been out of the “Rajapaksa grip”, 02 years after January 2015.

With all those messing up come efforts to bully and intimidate media. The PM publicly threatened and coerced media many a times demanding media “fall in line” with the government. These were no isolated threats to democratic life. This government proposed amendments and bills that are more draconian and tyrannical than what the Rajapaksas passed.

With them the year 2017

Two major issues that have been dragged along for two years post January 2015, await reasonable and justifiable answers at least in the year 2017. The IOSL Resolution 30/1 demands more serious attention than it had in 2016. Tamil political demands and war related issues tinkered around with no political will to address them needs no more delaying. On the economic front, “national development” must go beyond urban economic gains. Rural economy should be able to retain youth with space for viable economic life. That is what’s necessary. But what’s in store for the North-East Tamils and Muslims and for the majority rural Sinhala poor in 2017, under this famously labelled “Yahapalanaya”?

The “reconciliation week” proposed by President Sirisena to mark his 02 year presidency is a publicity gimmick that wouldn’t fool the Tamil people. A president who clubs the Ministry of Buddhism with the Ministry of Justice in Sri Lanka, is one who is wholly ignorant of the conflicting ethno religious mind sets in this war battered society. It is also chaotic to leave these two conflicting ministries in the wrong hands too. But he has done just that. A president who cannot instruct the Justice Minister to unconditionally release all Tamil youth detained without charges for many long years, can only talk of reconciliation for publicity. A president who patronises extremely racist and violent Buddhist monks nurtured by the Rajapaksas and should be arrested for openly inciting racial and religious hatred, is frighteningly dangerous to pin hopes on. A government led by such confirmed Sinhala leaders will not leave any hope for the Tamils and Muslims in 2017.

This government shows no deviation from the Rajapaksas to believe they could be better in 2017. Torture continues with impunity proving the government is incapable of disciplining the law enforcement agencies. It refuses to admit the judiciary as a system is ethnically bias. Even before the verdict on the murder of former MP Raviraj raised serious concerns, the judicial process was proved bias against Tamil victims and when indicting security forces personnel, President Sirisena vows to defend as “war heroes”. The case on the mass murder of 24 Tamil villagers including 12 women and 07 children of Kumarapuram in Trincomalee exposed the judiciary’s racial bias. The Kumarapuram case was transferred from Muttur to Anuradhapura High Courts after a long lapse. Transfer to Anuradhapura allowed for a Sinhala jury. All accused were identified by victims as those who committed the crimes. In July 2016, the Sinhala Jury nevertheless decided all suspects as innocent.

With 03 PC elections and the unjustifiably postponed island wide LG elections to come in 2017, this Sinhala political trend is destined to take a more aggressive leap. Desperate in grabbing control of the SLFP, President Sirisena is seen collecting Sinhala extremism around him with Rajapaksa making loud promises to the Sinhala constituency. That competition to be more Sinhala than Rajapaksa has prompted the government to leave the OMP bill adopted in parliament in cold storage. The new draft Constitution the TNA wants with more power sharing than in the 13A and genuine reconciliation would thus be a far cry in 2017 under this government.

Reconciliation limited to rhetoric, a “corruption free” rule and “national development” in 2017 will not be the fate of the people. Frantic haste in bringing investments into this crude neo liberal economy will certainly ensure mega corruption. “Development” promised by this government is now exclusively Chinese and Indian. This free market model with direct Chinese investments and designed for profits with economic growth, will have to allow Chinese labour in massive numbers into the country.

Already there is an unaccounted number of Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Chinese labour on “tourist visa” employed in factories. Agreements with China on Hambantota industrial zone and Chinese invested FTZ will involve large scale Chinese labour, more than what the government would publicly accept. Indian sponsored investments would be no different. All of it could even compel the government to amend the Immigration and Emigration Act to accommodate foreign labour legally. Export industry had been canvassing for the right to import labour, even during the Rajapaksa era. Initial protests by the Rajapaksas therefore will only be publicity stunts. These after all, are extensions of their own projects.

For its own survival and in serving its own financiers, these mega investor projects would need arrogant implementation, ignoring protests and disregarding existing laws. Most mega projects including the redesigned Colombo Port City, pays no response to continued public protests and scant respect for environmental concerns, totally disregarding coastal zone management plans. 2017 will see an acceleration of all such arrogance.

There naturally will be public protests against land grabbing and environmental issues with large extent of land acquired, displacing people. There will also be brewing unrest and protests within employed labour too. Trade unions don’t seem to understand the crisis they’ll be dragged into in 2017. Sri Lanka will have to have carved out large zones with Chinese and South Indian labour, with no labour laws applicable to them. Not even to the extent they are presently applied in already existing FTZs. A condition the government will have to agree to, when big Chinese and Indian investments are canvassed. That certainly will have a viral effect. Other investors will also want the right for same relaxed conditions applied in their factories too. The reading is already on the wall. The employer thrust even now is in union busting especially in the Katunayake FTZ. Key players in the government seem to be bidding time, to give the nod for a complete go. Trade unions will have a turbulent year ahead.

The rabidly free economy the government is obsessed with, demands the State to facilitate arrogant and repressive rule in 2017. The role of this repressive State is being defined by draft bills, the government has in its hands. The draft “Development (Special Provisions) Bill” that was rejected by PCs but would be brought up in February 2017, together with the draft “Counter Terrorism Bill” to replace the existing PTA, spells out how much centralising the government wants in canvassing Chinese and Indian investment and how repressive the government intends to be, in its effort to crush all inevitable protests.

Thus 2017 will be a year that would test the ability of this “two part” government to stay together.

Shameless and morally unacceptable greasing of MPs with numerous packages and privileges are legal bribes to hold the government together for wheeler dealer projects. That while disappointing and leaving Tamils and Muslims in a further polarised Sri Lanka. It would also be a year the government replicates few more “Rathupaswelas” and workers’ could taste from the Hambantota port “menu”. PM thanking Navy action at the Hambantota port, says it all.